Informal Support Networks of Low-Income Senior Women Living Alone: Evidence from Fort St. John, BC

Abstract

Within the context of an aging Canadian rural and small-town landscape, there is a growing trend of low-income senior women living alone. While there is a perception that rural seniors have well-developed social networks to meet their daily needs, some research suggests that economic and social restructuring processes have impacted the stability of seniors' support networks in small places. While much of the research on seniors' informal networks focuses upon small towns in decline, booming resource economies can also produce challenges for low-income senior women living alone due to both a higher cost of living and the retrenchment of government and service supports. Under such circumstances, an absence of informal supports can impact seniors' health and quality of life and may lead to premature institutionalization. Drawing upon a household survey in Fort St. John, British Columbia, we explore informal supports used by low-income senior women living alone in this different context of the Canadian landscape. Our findings indicate that these women not only have a support network that is comparable to other groups, but that they are also more likely to draw upon such supports to meet their independent-living needs. These women rely heavily on family support, however, and greater efforts are needed to diversify both their formal and informal sources of support as small family networks can quickly become overwhelmed.

Keywords:

• aging
• networks
• poverty
• resource towns
• rural
• women

Notes

1. We chose to use before-tax cut-offs to determine low-income thresholds as these are reported on annual income tax returns and are more easily recollected by respondents.

2. The SAFER supplement is known as the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters program. This provincial program provides monthly cash to eligible seniors who pay rent. Retrieved from http://www.bchousing.org/programs/SAFER.